Sunday, November 23, 2008

I think it's one of those quirky japanese ideas, but it's actually a rather practical and delicious one. The chicken and mushroom was pretty good, but the beef one with the olives (beef capriccio?) was better.

Sunday, November 16, 2008

If you've been waiting for that Minority Report-style interface to really come to fruition, you can finally exhale.

One of the science advisors from the Steven Spielberg film -- along with a team of other zany visionaries -- has created an honest-to-goodness, real-world implementation of the computer systems seen in the movie.

Dubbed g-speak, the mind bending OS combines "gestural i/o, recombinant networking, and real-world pixels," to deliver what the creators call "the first major step in [a] computer interface since 1984."

Monday, November 10, 2008

Few of us would care if our house keys appeared in a photograph of the family picnic posted on the internet.

But we should be concerned because advances in digital imaging and optics means any photograph of a key posed a potential security threat, Stefan Savage, a computer science professor at the University of California, warns.

Professor Savage and two of his PhD students have developed a software program called Sneakey that can clone a key in "two to three minutes" after analysing a digital photograph.

The algorithm is so sophisticated it easily copes with the low-resolution mobile phone images routinely posted on social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

"The software looks at the key, adjusts the image for any rotations or distortions, then produces a string of numbers that is appropriate for that key," Professor Savage said.

"Those numbers are fed into a key-cutting machine and it makes a perfect copy.

Professor Savage, 39, said his team at the University's Jacobs School of Engineering in San Diego found "thousands" of images of keys inadvertently posted on the photo-sharing site Flickr.

They also used a camera fitted with a telephoto lens to photograph and duplicate a set of keys on a cafe table from a distance of more than 60 metres.

Far from being unique, the bumps and valleys on a conventional key can be "completely described" using a five- or six-digit number, he said.

"The design of the keys we use today is 150 years old and the world has changed."

As a result, Professor Savage believes we should protect our keys in the same way we protect the code to our debit card.

Sneakey runs on an ordinary personal computer and uses key-cutting hardware that is readily available in Australia.

The University of California team is keeping the code secret, but Professor Savage admits anyone with a basic knowledge of programming and computer vision techniques would be able to reproduce it.

He believes the "keyless" locking systems used on modern cars will eventually become the standard for all security applications. Until then, you might think twice before posing for a happy snap with your keys dangling from your belt.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

Every few years, I become aware of 'batches' of coincidence in my life. I'm happy to report that I'm currently mid-batch :)

On Sunday night I found myself thinking about 2 friends, one in Sydney who I haven't spoken to in over 6 months, and another Malaysian friend who i work with everyday. His job isn't bad (at least not much worse than the rest of us) but i found myself feeling that he was going to resign.

Monday morning rolls around, and not only did the Australian friend who I haven't spoken to in 6 months ping me to say hello, but the Malaysian friend tells me he's resigned!

Only tonight my internet connection drops out and I call the tech support people. They ask me some details about my account, a principal one involving the word 'firefly'. 2 minutes after getting off the phone I'm taking out the rubbish and just outside my door I see something flashing on the ground.. and y'know what it was?

Only the first ever firefly that I have ever seen.Aah I love coincidence.

Sunday, November 02, 2008

KUALA LUMPUR: Much to the joy of the public, a new signboard bearing the name "Jalan Alor" replaced the Jalan Kejora signboard on Thursday in Bukit Bintang by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL).

The new signboard was put up after Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Ab Hakim Borhan announced on Oct 29 that the previous road name would be retained after Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Zulhasnan Rafique intervened.

In a statement yesterday Zul­hasnan urged DBKL to refer matters concerning change of road names to the ministry in future to avoid similar controversies.

“Jalan Alor is not only popular in Malaysia but also all over the world.

“I understand the people’s sentiment over the initial decision for the change to Kejora and I hope the hawkers on Jalan Alor will press on cleanliness,” he said.

Two weeks ago DBKL replaced the old Jalan Alor signboard with Jalan Kejora which created a huge public outcry that caught the attention of the Federal Territories Ministry.

Bukit Bintang MP Fung Kui Lun said Jalan Alor was a brand name for over 50 years to both locals and foreigners and the decision to change it would have caused confusion.

“This is what the people want and I think it is fair to retain the name, everyone is happy,” he said.